’Tch. So it started here?’
This wasn’t an insignificant matter. On the grander sche of things, whether it was the Hamr, Yhien, Bloodrend, or any of the other threats from the future past, nothing Gio had experienced thus far was as important as the mory that just flashed through his mind.
’I have to be right.’
He didn’t even take the ti to doubt himself. The pieces of the puzzle he already had were enough to fill in the gaps that he needed. Anything he didn’t know could be figured out later.
’But if I’m not wrong, this is definitely that. And if it really is that...’
Gio sighed. He had to check.
Without trying to conceal himself at all, he walked out of his hiding place and into the open. He was in clear view of the village people, yet...
’They didn’t notice .’
He had no choice but to sigh again.
"Gio? What are you doing?"
Amaya’s voice entered his ear, but he didn’t respond, silently shaking his head in hopes that she would see him.
It was strange that Amaya talked about these people like they were going to be rabid enemies. They were nothing of the sort. They lived peacefully and weren’t bothered by his presence in the slightest.
’That’s because I’m not talking or attacking.’
Another sigh, this ti accompanied by a grim expression.
’They gave up their ability to speak when they chose to beco sacrifices, so when they hear speech, their minds go rabid and they attack until they can tear out the other side’s throat. When they’re attacked, they’re forced to retaliate by the sa bond. They’re only allowed to be hard by the "circle"’
He now understood why Amaya said they couldn’t really be called humans. They technically weren’t humans anymore. They were hybrid chiras who had combined their genes with beast genes to the point of destroying their minds and turning them into puppets.
It was an effect similar to being on a hypnotic drug for them, but when their instincts were activated and they attacked, their bodies would be taken over by the beast genes. They would be transford into creatures as if they were using Gene Sequences, but they were not.
They were doing the most primal version of the sa thing and calling it different. The ones who created them found a way to rge the genes without killing the sacrifices, so it could even be said that they were rely retracing humanity’s steps to discovering Sequences.
’They’re just like that. To them, their own use of Sequences and Sequencing technology is justified since it’s being used against Sequencers. I’ve seen the punishnts they do to themselves personally. It’s brutal.’
An uncharacteristically deep frown decorated Gio’s face as he reached the sa conclusion that Raymond and Natalia found long ago.
’The Apocalypse Church.’
Bloodrend was dangerous until they were wiped out. The Apocalypse Church remained a threat even after its death.
It planted a seed of doubt in the minds of many, offering them a way of thinking that turned them against their own peers, the ones fighting to defend them.
The Apocalypse Church left behind in its wake countless technologies that forever empowered those people. They were technologies that were forever improved upon for the sole purpose of killing humans.
And among them, perhaps one of the absolute worst was this.
’I can’t fight right now.’
It was a sha, but he didn’t mind it much. As he looked around at the people surrounding him, watching their eyes, their actions, and their mouths that never opened even when they communicated, he had already confird what was going on.
’The fight that’s at the end of this will be much more rewarding than subduing these people.’
"–Gio!"
Amaya finally yelled loud enough for her voice to snap Gio out of his daze. She had been calling out to him and trying to talk to him the entire ti, but none of her words reached him.
She yelled, but the people of the village were not disturbed. She had moved far enough away before doing sothing like that.
With her eyes, it was still possible to see him looking around for her. He nodded and started walking in the complete opposite direction in response to her call, but it was good enough that he responded.
’What is he doing?’
It wasn’t just him.
Why weren’t they attacking him? Why did he fall into a daze like that, and why did it feel like the scene suddenly turned into a fever dream the mont she left it alone and allowed Gio to do as he pleased?
He stood there in the middle of the village, standing almost completely stationary and mindlessly staring at the villagers. They walked around him and perfectly ignored his presence, going about their activities as normal.
However, he was like a bolt that had fallen into the smoothly spinning gears. His presence completely destroyed the perfectly operating scenery.
The villagers still moved according to their patterns, but there was a feeling of disorder. When soone who wasn’t like them was in their midst, it beca possible to understand that they were uncanny.
From a distance, it was impossible to tell.
Amaya circled through the forest and reached where Gio exited the village. When she found him in the jungle, he was sitting on a rock, waiting for her with his brow furrowed.
He was clearly deep in thought, but she wasn’t kind enough to let him sit there and do as he pleased.
"What the hell was that?" she asked, approaching him and breaking his trance.
He shook his head.
"I’m sorry, but I’ll need you to promise sothing here."
"What?"
Amaya responded in an almost offended tone, but she waited for him to speak. She would at least hear him out before deciding how to take his words.
Gio took a breath and looked her in the eyes.
"I think I figured out what your squad has been chasing all this ti, and if I’m right, I need to be more involved than you’ll let with the level of trust we have right now. Because of that, I need you to promise one thing."
Amaya wanted to shrug off his words, but in all the ti she’d known Gio –not just in the past week and a half, but over the several months he’d spent with the squad– she’d never seen him make such an expression.
"No matter what I say, don’t ask how or why I know these things. Just don’t throw away the possibility that I’m not lying. Investigate with , and if you find that I’m telling the truth, listen to everything I have to say."
Amaya’s eyes narrowed.
"The Captain said you have so kind of mysterious background..."
"This is related to that."
Gio nodded.
It wasn’t just a story he was making up. He already knew how he would turn these wild claims of a mysterious backer from falsities into truths.
The proof was in the world. Gio had a vault of knowledge that could help him reach it. All he needed was for Amaya to accept that he was an ally who deserved to have a voice.
She looked at him for a long while without speaking. There was a lot running through her mind as she considered the paths forward.
’But it’s true that he knows sothing I don’t.’
His odd performance in the village could only be explained that way.
"Haa..."
Finally, Amaya sighed and nodded her head.
"Fine. I’ll hear you out. If you’re saying that you can back your words with hard proof, there’s no reason for to question you..."
"...and that’s especially the case if you are actually aware of what we’re doing."
Raymond told them about his little unspoken bet with Gio. The whole team knew that he would be trying to piece together their goals in the Wasteland, but none of them paid it any mind. They didn’t think it would be possible for him to understand so much in a short period of ti.
However, Amaya told Gio that she would unconditionally give him a chance.
"The Apocalypse Church..."
There wasn’t a reason to spend ti on aningless words.
"...they’ve created the technology to control beasts."
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